Orchids Get Seeds Saved To Prevent Their Extinction

It's not quite the Doomsday Seed Vault in the far north of Norway, but its still really pretty cool: In the new to TreeHugger category, the Orchid Seed Stores for Sustainable Use project intends to store miniscule orchid seeds, freezing them far below 0°C so as the prevent extinction. Why care about orchids specifically? The Independent quotes Osssu project manager Philip Seaton:

Orchids are indicator species: If forests are in trouble then orchids will be one of the first things to go.

Orchids represent about 12% of the world's flowering plant species, with 25% of these being threatened with extinction.

The goal of the project is to save seeds from 2,000 species (about one-tenth of all orchids) by 2015. Since the project began in 2007 just 250 species have been protected.